Question

Can't see my main partition when I install Windows XP

I want to clean install windows xp on my PC, cos its running so slow these days and has millions of unnecessary programs on it that I cant remove. Probably also some virus etc.

I have an old Hardrive F: (called old PC), then my new Hard drive is partitioned into my system drive C: and my data storage drive,

Now the problem:When I run windows setup disc, it comes to where I must delete or add partitions to install xp on, but I can only see 2 partitions, the one is my old pc (Strangely called C:) and one more small device 512 mb big called F: (this can be my cameras SD card) I cant see my real C: drive where I want to install my windows on, also cant see my real which I dont want erased.

All Answers

At a guess without knowing what hardware is involved I would

Say that you have a SATA Drive that you are wanting to boot from and the Windows Installer doesn't support SATA Drives Natively so you need to add the SATA Driver for your Particular Hardware and for XP.

What you need to do is copy the SATA Driver to the Root of a Floppy and when the first blue screen appears press the F6 Key then wait till you are prompted to insert the floppy for the SATA Drivers by the XP installer asking you to add the Drivers for the SCSI or whatever. Just push in the floppy and press enter and the SATA Drives will load.

If you don't have a Floppy you can slipstream a XP Install Disc complete with the SATA Driver by following the directions in this TR Article

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